"Well, excuse me Miss *I'm-so-smart-I-can't-wait-to-go-to-the-Island!* " - McCord (Steve Buscemi)

Rating: 7/10 (21 July 2005)

It's a rare occasion when I go out of my way to see a sneak preview. I have to really be interested and excited about the film to even consider it, the last sneak preview I attended was 'Team America: World Police". I have got to admit that I was kind of psyched about seeing 'The Island'. It was a cool-looking and intriguingly filmed action-Sci-Fi that was almost kind of a remake of 'Logan's Run' with a cast of solid performers. Usually, when you go see these kind of 'Michael Bay' summer blow-em-up action blockbusters, they star popular and beautiful movie-stars who can't act worth crap, like Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman or Penelope Cruz. But, 'The Island' was superior in a way where the two stars were Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johannson, two incredible actors who are two of the best of their generation. Walking into the theater screening 'The Island' I was expecting to view a good film, and by the time the end credits started to roll, I realized I had viewed a great film. I guess you could say I was a little impressed.
The story follows a group of people who have codes for names. They live in an enclosed area called 'The Insitute', they wear the same white jump-suits with white sneakers, and the biggest priority of theirs is their health. They are told they are survivors of a major end-of-the-world type contamination and it's important for them to stay fit, and they also have a lottery. If you win the lottery (chosen at random) you get sent of to 'The Island', a lush and beautiful sandy beach area where you'll live in glorious luxury the rest of your days. One of these people, Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) starts to have nightmares about being taken to 'The Island' along with a girl he likes, Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johannson). The nightmares consists of them going to the island, but being killed before they reach it. Lincoln Six Echo is haunted by these terrible nightmares night after night and decides to snoop around the institute of which all his fellow machine-like citizens live in. He eventually finds out a terrible truth - THERE IS NO ISLAND! Everyone he knows and sees everyday in the plain white jumpsuits are actually clones of people in the 'real world'. When a person in the real world gets sick, their clone mysteriously wins the lottery, and gets killed and operated on for whatever organ the real sick person needs. Lincoln Six Echo decides to escape their enclosed prison and takes recent lottery winner and love interest, Jordan Two Delta with him. Pursuing them is a team of bounty hunters lead by the quiet and hardened Laurent (Djimin Hounsou - In America, Amistad), hired by ruthless and calculating Dr. Merrick (Sean Bean - National Treasure, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), who created the clones. Jordan Two Delta and Lincoln Six Echo are helped by McCord (played by the hilarious and incredibly talented Steve Buscemi), who's maintenance worker at the institute who had befriended Lincoln Six Echo. The movie begins a wildly entertaining cat and mouse game with so many twists, turns and car chases it will leave you breathless.
I have to say I was very impressed with 'The Island' mostly because it was from Michael Bay. For most of his career I thought Michael Bay was to film-making as McDonald's was to hamburgers (that's not a compliment in the slightest). He was the big name who directed all the big blockbusters, but he had no real sense of flair or passion. I felt he was very commercial and unoriginal in his directing until having seen 'The Island'. Bay, for the first time, provides us with intelligent as well as extremely engrossing entertainment (part of which may be due to Hollywood mogul Jerry Bruckheimer not producing the picture). Along with being pleasantly surprised with Bay, I thought McGregor and Johannson were almost perfect in their roles. They provide us with the feeling of their emotion and make us believe they are actually in danger and anxiety (something that untalented Hollywood hacks - who usually get cast in these kinds of flicks (Tom Cruise, Orlando Bloom, Justin Timberlake, etc.) - could never do.) Steve Buscemi provides perfect comedic timing with his role, and recent Academy Award Nominee Djimin Hounsou is very solid in his. Sean Bean was average at best as the diabolical doctor (I still think they could have cast a finer performer in his part), and Michael Clarke Duncan is dreadfully awful in a small role (fortunately for the viewers). For all the good 'The Island' posses (decent acting, decent directing, awesome action sequences that will leave you in awe) it has some faults as most films do. The screenplay is a little dull and flat-out silly at some points, and I strongly disliked the ending (it felt too rushed and it took a path I felt should have been avoided).
In closing, 'The Island' is a very good film, despite it's flaws. I think the reason I liked it so much is because it's so superior to other movies in it's 'big blockbuster action adventure picture' genre. It sets a high standard for the same type of films that will follow it, and I admire that very much. 'The Island' thrills you, makes you laugh, makes you think and entertains you consistently. Really, what more can you ask for in action movie - besides an Oscar worthy plot, not really much else. Grade: B (screened at AMC Desert Ridge 18, Phoenix, Arizona, 7/09/05)
my ratings guide - A+ (absolutley flawless); A (a masterpiece, near-perfect); A- (excellent); B+ (great); B (very good); B- (good); C+ (a mixed bag); C (average); C- (disappointing); D+ (bad); D (very bad); D- (absolutley horrendous); F (not one redeeming quality in this hunk of Hollywood feces).